No episode in early American history is more infamous or misunderstood than the Salem witch

trials of 1692. Before they were over, 19 people, five men and 14 women, were convicted

of engaging in witchcraft and were subsequently executed by hanging. One other was pressed to death with heavy stones.

Still more died in prison awaiting trial,

and many more would have died if cooler heads had not finally prevailed.

From a contemporary perspective,

it's hard to understand why the trials happened at all,

but for the people living in Salem at the end of the 17th century, there was no such mystery.

Puritan New England was a profoundly Bible-based society, so when the Old Testament denounced witchcraft and sorcery, they took it seriously.

Massachusetts law mandated that if any man or woman be a witch, they shall be put to death.

But why did witch trials happen in Salem when they did? What was the precipitating cause? After all,

the Massachusetts colony had existed for 62 years without similar upheaval. Why now? Many theories have been offered,

and none are fully satisfying. All we know for sure was that it was a period of deep instability,

socially, economically, and religiously. First, there was uncertainty as to where the colony

stood with England, the mother country.

In 1684, in a move to assert the Crown's authority and thereby curtail Massachusetts' ability

to rule itself, King Charles II revoked the colony's founding charter. That itself was traumatic.

Then in 1690, things got much worse.

In response to French and Indian raids, Massachusetts authorities ordered an attack against French

forces at Quebec.

It was a complete route.

This devastating loss to French Catholics led the Puritans to wonder why, in the words

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